A frame mounted on a vehicular body for transporting a hand truck is well known in the art. Such frames are disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,530 to Boettcher; U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,342 to Pellettier; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,443,730 to Meusel, each patent of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Hand trucks (or “dollies”) are often carried on the vehicular bodies of delivery trucks for convenience. At each stop of the delivery truck, the hand truck is readily available to assist the driver in unloading and transporting the cargo to be delivered like, for example, boxed cans of beverages including soda and beer.
Each manufacturer of the vehicular body commonly includes a frame for transporting a hand truck in the design of the vehicular body. In doing so, however, the manufacturer must either predetermine the size and configuration of the hand truck that will be used with the frame by contacting the customer for the vehicular body, or the manufacturer must make a “best guess” of the size and configuration of the hand truck that will be used with the frame. Unfortunately, most often the hand truck that is ultimately used with the frame is either not the hand truck that is initially specified by the customer, or it is not the hand truck that was guessed by the manufacturer. In any event, to accommodate the customer in the interests of customer care, the manufacturer de facto will send, at the manufacturer's expense, the customer a differently sized frame specifically customized for the actual hand truck used.
Accordingly, a specific need exists by which a manufacturer can build a vehicular body including a frame which is adjustable and which accommodates a variety of hand trucks which the customer ultimately might use.